Keeping An Open Mind
by StarrVenus
Summary: Max and Iggy are twins and just starting high school. When Max meets a mysterious boy named Fang, she decides to be open to marching band. I suck at summaries. Just read it. Rated T cos I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Aah! Finally! Inspiration! Band! Why am I writing one-worded sentences? But yeah. I got inspiration for this story from band. If you didn't pick up on this yet, I'm in marching band, but I don't play clarinet. I play flute. :) I love, love, LOVE marching band. But I will make sure to explain unknown terms to non-band-geeks on the bottom, so if you don't understand a term with an asterisk, I'll make sure to explain. By the way, if some of the grammar is wrong, I'm terribly sorry. I've been kind of multi-tasking, so some of it might be all over the place. **

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride I do not own. Not own Yoda do I either. **

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Chapter 1

Have you ever had a rude awakening? Like, have you been in the middle of a great time, and then someone interrupts it with the bad news called reality? Well, that was basically what happened at four o'clock this evening.

I was in the middle of a wonderful summer, aside from Iggy annoying the heck out of me, until about a month before school started. August had just began, and the weather was getting a little cooler. I was hanging out with my friends everyday of the summer, ignoring the fact that high school was coming up.

That's right. I was going to be a Freshman, or as other upperclassmen so _lovingly_ put it, a "Freshie". Mmm. So welcoming. So I hid my nerves and tried to distract myself. But today happened to be the first practice of marching band.

Yeah, apparently Mr. Pulowski didn't get the message that we're supposed to _avoid_ school in the summer.

So today was my rude awakening. I got up at the usual one o'clock in the afternoon when my mom informed me about it all.

"So, Max, you know that you and Ig have marching band practice later, right?" she asked casually.

My reaction was interesting. I choked on my milk. I started to cough uncontrollably while my mom came to my side and began patting my back.

Finally, after I got it all out of my system, I was able to sputter, "We have to go back to school already?"

Mom chuckled, and gave me some water to drink, since I'd finished all my milk already. "Yes, hun. School's starting in about three weeks, you know."

I had to spit out my water before I choked again. "I don't wanna start!"

Iggy came in right after. "Ready?"

I shook my head furiously. "Not at all."

Iggy was the unlucky one in this situation, though. Because he was a percussionist, he had to start coming in two weeks earlier, just to learn all the cadences*. Iggy is my twin brother, by the way. I'm sorry I forgot to mention that. Iggy was born three minutes before me. And he doesn't let me forget it, either.

People don't usually think of us as twins. We don't look alike. At all. My hair is blonde and brown, both mixed together. Iggy's is strawberry blonde. I have brown eyes, his are blue-ish. But we both are tall and thin, but other than that, we're polar opposites.

"It's fun, Max! Pulo* is the best band director ever!" Iggy exclaimed.

I sighed. Why did I have to try out for marching band in the first place? I never really liked band. I liked the clarinet. I just didn't like band because I felt that it was pointless. I mean, seriously, what are you accomplishing by playing music, only to be followed by performing a single concert, and then start it all over again? But sadly, Mom made me do it. Her excuse was always that she wished that she didn't quit band. Whatever.

"Max, you'll have fun," my mom comforted, holding onto my hand.

I pulled it away, suddenly feeling very frustrated. Stupid PMS. "I definitely won't have fun! None of my friends made it into marching band! I'm not going to know anyone!" Then, I ran into my room, slamming the door.

This was what I decided:

I was not going to enjoy marching band.

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Eventually, I dressed, put on just a teensy bit of makeup, and put my hair in a ponytail. I grabbed my clarinet, a bag to put my phone, water, and music in, and a quick snack. The practices for the next two weeks were going until seven, so we'd be missing dinner. Iggy grabbed his stuff too, and pushed me into the car.

"Trust me, Max, you'll like it," he reassured.

I stuck out my tongue out at him. Even though we were the same age, he really took on the big brother role in my life. And he had two younger siblings, other than me. Gazzy and Angel. The Gasman (Let his nickname be self-explanitory) is nine, and Angel is seven. They look a lot more like Iggy, so I guess I'm the odd one out. But Iggy seems to be more protective of me, which is weird. Maybe someday I'll ask him about that.

He grinned. "I'll introduce you to people. You won't be a total outcast." That's another thing about Iggy. He's very sociable, and very well-liked. So I guess I could rely on him to introduce me to other people.

"Can we come?" Angel and Gazzy asked, running outside of the house.

Iggy shook his head. "You don't want to. High schoolers are scary."

They both pleaded; Angel even used her Bambi eyes.

"Fine," he breathed in surrender. They squealed and hopped in the car. Maybe that would help calm my nerves.

Iggy sat in the front passenger seat, while Angel, Gaz, and I squeezed in the back of our SUV. Mom sat in the driver's seat (obviously).

Unfortunately, we live about five minutes from the school, so I was barely able to enjoy the last of my summer. Everyone but Angel and I were singing along to 80's music. It was torturous.

Finally, Mom arrived at the school. There were about two cars in front of us, and there was one more in back of us. As we were getting out of the car, Iggy shouted, "Hey!" to one of the people getting out of a car. He nodded, and waited for us to catch up.

He had gorgeous teal-colored eyes, dirty blonde hair, and muscles. My eyes practically popped right out of my sockets. I had to make sure not to stare. Who knew that high school had hot guys?

"Hey Ig," he greeted, and then looked at me. "Who's this? Your girlfriend?"

We both began snickering. "No, this is my twin sister, Max," Iggy replied.

The guy grinned. "My bad." He extended his hand to me. "I'm Dylan."

I grabbed his hand. "Nice to meet you." Iggy raised an eyebrow casually, seeming to question my friendliness.

"Dylan is doing the Cymbals with me," Iggy explained. I nodded, but to be honest, I didn't really pay attention.

They both began to talk about one of the songs, so I just walked beside them until they lead me to the band room. I'd been in here before, but I didn't really remember what it looked like. The room was pretty big, with leveled floors, tons of chairs, and stands to go with them. There were also a bunch of people to match.

"That's where all the clarinets sit," Iggy whispered in my ear, pointing to the obvious section of people with that very instrument.

"I'm not an idiot," I muttered back to him.

He gave me an smile, no evil intended. "Great. You're already learning."

I rolled my eyes. "Stop acting like you know everything."

He just shrugged, and walked off with Dylan to the labyrinth between the band room and the choir room. I guess percussion was meeting in a room there.

I was all alone for about a second there, looking completely helpless, until this random girl tapped my shoulder.

"Hi! You're a clarinet, right?" she asked without a hint of bitterness in her tone. Maybe people were a lot nicer in high school...

"Uhh... Yeah," I replied stupidly.

She laughed. "I'm Kallie. I'm the clarinet section leader." She shook my hand.

I was confused. "What's a section leader?"

"Basically, I'm like the mother goose of clarinets. I help everyone out, and I teach you stuff. This first week, it's just me and all the newbies." She flashed me a bright smile. Wow, perky much?

My eyes widened. "So this isn't even the whole band?"

"Nope. It's mostly Sophomores, with the occasional Freshman."

I half-heartedly laughed with her. "I guess I'm one of that small population, then."

She looked surprised. "You're a Freshman?" I nodded. "Wow, I totally thought that you were a Sophomore. Well, I'm a Senior."

I began to look around. This was a big group, and it was only the newbies. Scary thought.

"So what's your name?" she asked, looking off of a clipboard. She was probably taking attendance or something.

"Maximum Martinez," I responded. She nodded, and put down a little checkmark.

"Alright, I'm pairing all of our newbies. Your marching partner is..." her finger ran across the clipboard. "Nick Ride. Do you know him?" I shook my head. "Well, you two are the only two Freshies in our section, so you two are going to be partnered up. Stay here for a sec," she instructed.

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Iggy said I'd have a good time, but so far, it was just frightening. But then again, I'd just got here. I decided to keep an open mind, despite the fact that I decided earlier that I wouldn't like marching band. Yeah, I know. I contradict myself quite a lot.

"Maximum, this is Nick," Kallie stated, dragging a guy by her arm. He had dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin, and dark clothes. He looked emo, basically. But he was, I admit, pretty darn attractive. Mmm. I gotta say, I was starting to like high school.

"Fang," he muttered.

"Max," I replied.

"Oh, my bad guys." She patted Fang's shoulder. "Get to know each other. Converse. Oh, and don't forget to set up your instrument."

I shrugged, and sat down on the nearest chair. Fang followed, and started tuning his clarinet. Hmm. Not much of a talker.

"So, what school do you come from?" I asked politely, trying to strike up some conversation.

"Westview Pointe," he mumbled.

"Oh, interesting..." I trailed off. "Well, I'm from Bayside." He grunted.

Oh, geez. Another awkward silence. I decided to stop talking to him since his quietness was seriously pissing me off. Besides, all he did was just stare at me. It was a little creepy.

Wonderful. I was making _so_ many friends.

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***Cadence=A song for percussion, basically. I can't really explain it since I'm not a percussionist, but it's like a catchy tune the drums do. They're awesome!**

***Pulo=A nickname for Mr. Pulowski. (I based it off of our band instructor. We call ours BK. He's awesome.)**

**So yeah, this was a really long chapter for me. Don't count on all the others to be this long. **

**Oh, and I made up the school names, by the way! Completely off the top of my head. So don't be a stalker and look them up, because I don't think they exist, and if they do, I DON'T/NEVER DID GO THERE!**

**Kthxbye. :)**

**-Venus**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Oh hai! I currently have the flu, so I'm being forced to stay in my house, quarantined for a week. And I don't even feel that sick. So just expect me to start updating quickly. And to the person who reviewed about the baton twirler thing – I'm sorry! I'm going to make Nudge the baton twirler... Haha. And I can't decide what Ella should be. I'm thinking a percussionist. Yeah, that's right. I'm promoting Eggy, but only in stories like this because this isn't the REAL Iggy. :) **

**And to other people – I have sooo many stories of marching band, and this was my first year of it. I am like Max and Fang – one of the three freshie flutes! :) And if they things they do are different than what you do in band, I'm sorry, this is just how we do it at my school. :)**

**Now, I'm going to warn you - there is a lot of band terms used in this chapter. Beware.**

**Disclaimer: You know, the only thing of Maximum Ride this story has is the character's names. But anywhoozle, I don't own.**

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Chapter 2

I tuned my instrument for a minute or two and warmed up until a middle-aged, tall man got up on a stand in front of the whole room. He raised his hands and shouted, "Hey, guys!" Everyone looked up at him and stopped playing.

"Hello, newbies! I'm Mr. Pulowski-"

"Pulo!" someone shouted, interrupting him.

Pulo smiled and nodded, not being phased at all by the disruption. I guess that was pretty common in high school band. My old band director would've lectured us for a while. "Yes, that is my nickname, in case you Freshmen don't know."

Everyone began laughing. I guess it's a tradition to make fun of the Freshman. But if you think about it, we auditioned into the upper band our first year, while it took the others an extra year to do it. I guess that's not important to an upperclassman.

"For this next week, we're going to teach you how to march. Then, the two weeks after that, we're going to learn our Pre-Game Show and our Halftime Show!" he explained very enthusiastically. Everyone cheered except for Fang and I. Were he and I the only _normal_ people here? Were we the only ones who didn't get excitement from the idea of marching and playing an instrument?

"So let me introduce our drum majors*," Pulo announced, and mentioned for three older high schoolers. "This is Jenna." A blonde girl with bright blue eyes waved. "Brad." A guy with brown hair and hazel eyes nodded. Mmm. He was pretty cute too. "And this is Brigid." A girl with red hair and bright blue eyes stepped forward and smiled.

"Hi, guys. I'm the head drum major, and I'd like to talk to you about this week," Brigid said. "First of all, we're going to teach you how to roll-step*, march, march in step*, and march in time*." She looked around to see confused faces. "Trust me, you'll understand once we start." She laughed.

"Ok." Pulo clapped his hands together. "Bring your water out, you don't need your instrument yet. We'll come back here in an hour and a half."

Fang and I seemed to be on the same wavelength – we both groaned in annoyance. He looked at me, then gave a slight smile. Hmm. So Mr. Impassive showed _some_ emotion. I guess that made him decide that I was ok.

"So what was your name again?" he asked.

"Max Martinez," I replied.

He held the door open for me. Wonderful, he was chivalrous. I decided to let it slide since I he didn't know me and my feminist views. "Cool, I'm Fang Ride. Call me Nick and you're dead."

I laughed. "Call me Maxine and you'll suffer from the same fate."

He slightly grinned. "So, are you looking forward to band?"

I shook my head. "Not really."

He nodded. "Me too. But maybe we'll like it in the end. I never liked playing guitar, but look at me now." I gave him a confused look. "Oh, I play guitar, by the way. Sorry. I forgot that I just met you."

"Ohh. That makes sense."

We walked to the football field. "Clarinets, get on the yard line!" Kallie called. Fang and I set our water bottles down and walked to the end of the line.

"Ok!" Brigid yelled. "So this is how you roll-step!" She walked, heel to toe. It was very smooth looking. "You want to land on the heel, and then step down on your toe afterwards. You also want to keep your body from bouncing."

I tried, but it felt very off. Kallie walked around, nodding her head or helping others improve. Then she came to me. "Good, Max."

I felt a sense of pride surge through my veins, but then I stopped it. _Shut up, Max. You're not supposed to enjoy this._

Then, I had an intense debate in my mind about how I wanted to have an open mind, but the other side kept telling me that I shouldn't enjoy myself. And no, I am not schizophrenic.

Then, I looked over to Fang. He was doing it all perfectly, no problems at all.

"How do you do it?" I questioned.

He shrugged. "My dad was in marching band, and he taught me some stuff."

"Ok, now we're going to step in time!" Brigid announced. "If we march in four-four time*, we're going to get eight steps per yard line. We step with the left foot first."

Wow. Uber confusing, right? Kallie seemed to see my facial expression, and she tried to soothe me. "You'll get it, trust me. It'll be second nature." I decided to take her word for it.

"Ok, ready guys?" Brigid shouted cheerfully. We all lined up on the yard line and faced the scoreboard. "We're going to go four steps for two yard lines."

They started a metronome*. "Ok, one, two, three, go!" We took a step. "One two three, four, five, six, seven, hit, one two, three, four, five, six, seven, hit."

Some people caught on, some people didn't. "Ok, guys, hit means that you got to the yard line. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that." Everyone nodded in understanding, and then we did it again, marching the other way. Hmm. So this was marching? Pretty boring to me.

"Ok, now we're going to explain some terms. First one is attention. When I say, 'Band, ten-hut' you're going to shout back at the top of your lungs, 'One!' Ok?" she instructed. We all nodded. "Ok, attention is when you stand, your head making a ninety-degree angle with your neck, look straight ahead, arms at your sides, shoulders back, and your feet facing forwards."

"Whaat?" I muttered. That was a lot.

"Ok, guys, lets try it!" She began clapping her hands. "Band, ten-hut!"

"One!" some people said. I got as still as I could, trying to follow everything Brigid said.

"Band, that was disappointing. You've gotta scream it! Feel some school pride! Let's try it again." Clap, clap, clap, clap. "Band, ten-hut!"

"ONE!" we yelled. Pretty good! It was starting to make sense.

"Good! Now stay in attention! I'm going to say, 'Marktime, march!' and you're going to march in place. I want your feet to get off of the ground, but stay in place. And remember – left foot first!" Kallie came walking around, making sure everyone was still in attention. "After that, I'm going to say, 'One, two, three, four,' and you're going to start marching. Remember what we did before!"

I took a deep breath. We were getting serious now. "Alright, band! Here we go!" She clapped four times again. "Band, ten hut!"

"One!"

"Marktime, march! One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, hit! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, hit!" I looked around after we reached two yard lines away. I made it with everyone else! It was starting to make sense!

"Great job, band!" Brigid encouraged while applauding us.

Fang gave me a hi-five. "We did it!"

We continued to do that, but in different times (meaning six steps per yard line, ten steps, etc.), or different steps, such as side stepping* and backwards marching*. Then, we did a couple of box drills*. It was very mentally draining, learning it all then and there.

Finally, we went inside and began doing music. I guzzled down the rest of my water while Pulo was talking to us about our show.

"This year's Pre-Game and Halftime show are music from the musical Grease!"

Everyone clapped and cheered excitedly. I even clapped a little because I really did like the music from Grease. I couldn't wait to get started on the music.

"So everyone, get out your music for Summer Nights, which is our Pre-Game music. We're going to learn the march for this first, so we're going to listen to it right now."

He popped in a CD and the song played on the speakers. It was a lot livelier than the actual song, probably because it was made for pep band*.

After that, we tried to sightread* it. It was a bit of a fail, but then again, it was the first time we played the song.

Finally, we were done with practice, so I put away my instrument and waited for Iggy to come out of the back room. Percussion had played with us and marched, but they had to go put away all of the instruments. Finally, he came out with a girl. She had dark brown hair that resembled chocolate, and she was tan with dark brown eyes. She was really pretty.

"Hey Max! This is Ella! She plays the bass drum," Iggy greeted.

"Nice to meet you," she said sweetly.

"You too," I replied, smiling.

We all walked out of the school. Ig and I found our car, so we said goodbye to Ella and got in.

"How was band, guys?" Mom asked, but I knew she really directed it at me.

"It was alright," I mumbled, not willing to admit anything. Ok, so I had a pretty good time. I'd prefer for there to be more variety in what we practiced, but the music was cool and the people weren't so bad.

My mom smiled, trying not to be smug.

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**Ok, here's the long list of explanations. I tried to also explain them in the story, but I will go over them anyways. **

***Drum Major=A student conductor, I guess. They're like Pulo's apprentices. **

***Roll-Step=Ok, I will try to draw it out... on the computer. First, your foot is like this: / (The bottom part your heel, top part your toes. Except the toes aren't that high.) And then it goes like this: _ Ok? LOL. **

***March in step=Walking in place, basically. **

***March in time=Roll-stepping to the beat. Your heel hits the ground on every new beat. **

***Four-four time=Four beats for every measure. (I'm not about to explain what a measure is, take piano lessons if you want to know. Or look it up.)**

***Metronome=A machine that keeps the beat. **

***Side stepping=You walk straight to whatever side, but you twist your upper body to the stands so you're not turning your back on them.**

***Backwards marching=Marching backwards? LOL. But you drag your toes on the ground, it doesn't go heel-toe like roll stepping.**

***Box drills=You march in the shape of a square. It might be like forward for four counts, right for four counts, backwards for four counts, and left for four counts. **

***Pep band=A branch of the band that plays upbeat music for things like basketball games or football games.**

***Sightread=To play the music for the first time without having played it before. **

**Ok, so there's your Music 101. Class, you're dismissed! Your homework for tonight is... Haha, just kidding. But I'm sorry if I confused you! Marching band is something you just get into. But that's a majority of the terms, so don't freak out. Marching band season ends after football season ends, so this won't go for a whole lot more of the time. Once they start school, I'll focus on that a little bit more. Don't worry! :)**

**-Venus**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm back, don't fret! LOL. But I've just been soooo busy because I had to miss a week of school, and let me tell you, missing a week of 3 honors classes is NOT fun when it comes to making up work. Plus, I had to make up a ton of quizzes, and I'm still not done. But we'll see, because I might not take some of them... I know, I'm so bad. But my grades are screwed anyways, so I don't really care.**

**So, this is probably the last summer chapter, and then we'll start school. I think. No promises, but I really want to start writing about school. That's when Max and Fang get to know each other more, and we all know what will eventually happen, but there will be a few obstacles along the way... Ok, so I gave a lot away, but you know. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, but in a matter of minutes, I will own a delicious, steaming warm cinnamon melt from McDonald's. 3**

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Chapter 3

For four days straight, we had to do more and more marching drills and play our music. It was pretty boring, but Fang listened to me complain. I also met more people, some not even in the clarinet section. I met one flute named Lissa. She didn't really care for me, but who she _really_ cared about was Fang. She wouldn't leave him alone whenever we took a five minute break. She would pretty much ignore my existence, but I had the feeling that it was because she was paying attention to Fang a little too closely.

I also met a guy in the saxophone section named Sam. When Lissa was in the middle of flirting with Fang, Sam recruited me. We hung out with Iggy, Ella, Dylan, and a couple of other various people. One girl, Jillian, was another clarinet. There was two more girls, Monique, who was the baton twirler, and Perry, who was a color guard*. We had one more guy named Jason, who was a trumpet. He was an unusual trumpet since he didn't stick with his section, but he was also not overly-proud. **(For non-band geeks, trumpets are usually very, very proud and they can get very obnoxious. Nothing against them, it's just who they are.)**

We got Saturday and Sunday off, but Monday came again. For the next two weeks, we were going to learn the Pre-Game Show and the first song in our Halftime Show.

I was shocked at how much more people there were in Marching Band. The attendance sheet, which we had to initial when we arrived, was over six pages long. I think there was about one hundred and fifty people there. I know that's not a huge number, but I'm not one for crowds, and middle school band was a lot smaller.

We went outside and learned the first two sets* of our Pre-Game show. Kallie and some other upperclassmen clarinets helped us find our coordinates*. Finally, it was time to go in, work on the music for twenty minutes, and then go home. It was a lot better than last week because practices were now only two hours.

We practiced for those two weeks, and finally we were marching and playing at the same time. It was a lot of multitasking. You had to make sure you were standing straight, roll-stepping, holding your instrument correctly, and of course, playing. But once you practice it enough, it becomes a habit.

The last week of band was also back-to-school week. Each class was buying books and getting their schedules on separate days and times. I had to to on Wednesday at noon. Last names M-Z were going to get their schedules then.

My mom was dragging Iggy by his arm while I was walking at her side, my stomach churning. After this, there was no turning back. Monday was our first day of school.

"But mom!" Iggy whined.

"Jeffery, do not make me tell you again..." Mom muttered under her breath. I snickered at the fact that she'd used his full name.

"Shut up Maximum," Iggy hissed. I shrugged, not really bothering to care. My mind was somewhere else.

We got in the school, and there were three huge lines. One was for schedules, one was for lockers, and the other one was for pictures and school ID's. Right in the schedules line, I saw Fang waving at me. I waved back and got in line.

"Hey," he breathed.

"Hi. Are you nervous?" I asked.

Fang shrugged. "A little."

I'd gotten to know Fang very well for the last three weeks, and I learned that he's not very verbal. But I could read it in his eyes that he was scared. "Me too," I replied.

Right as I said that, Fang got to the front of the line. "Nicholas Ride," he muttered.

"Nicholas Zachary Ride? Yes, I have your schedule right here," the lady responded loudly. I began giggling (which is _so_ unlike me) and Fang gave me a death glare. That of course made me laugh even harder.

Fang waited for me to get my schedule, and I couldn't decide whether it was to hear _my_ full name or just because he was being nice.

"Maximum Martinez," I said sweetly.

The lady smiled and handed me my schedule. "Here you go."

Fang's eyes grew wide. "How come she didn't say your full name?"

I grinned. "I don't have a middle name."

We got in the second line and compared schedules. Fang took my schedule and examined it. "Biology, Algebra, Spanish, lunch, Health, English, World History, and Marching Band. Yep, we have every class together."

"Wow, what are the odds of that?" I murmured.

We got our lockers and combinations right after. It just so happened that our lockers were right across from each other.

"It's fate!" I sighed dramatically while Fang rolled his eyes at me. While he was getting his picture taken, I compared Iggy's schedule with mine. We had Biology, lunch, and English together, and we were also locker partners. Apparently the lockers are given in alphabetical order.

We all got our ID's and gave our parents the list of books to buy and decided to explore the school.

"So where to you want us to hang out in the morning?" Fang asked.

"Us?" Iggy questioned.

"You know, us three and Jillian, Monique, Perry, Jason, Sam, Ella, and Dylan?" Wow. What a long list. I felt so popular.

"By the band room?" I suggested. They both nodded in agreement. We'd just have to discuss it with the others.

We kept wondering around, looking for classes. Fang and I had a fun route. Our classes alternated between the first and second floor for every single class, and they were all on opposite sides of the building. Luckily, our lockers were right in the middle of the school. That gave me a little bit of comfort.

"Fang!" shouted a very familiar voice. I looked back to see Lissa. "OMG I'm so nervous!"

Fang was a rock – emotionless, and he didn't really give a care. "Wow."

"What's your schedule? I wanna seeeeeee," Lissa screeched. Geez. Not an attractive sound.

"Ok," Fang responded, handing her his schedule.

"Oh, Fang! We have Biology, lunch, _and_ Health together!" She jumped up and down in excitement. Iggy and I had to turn away so she wouldn't be offended by our laughs.

"Iggy and Max! I have your books! Do you want to put them in your locker?" Mom shouted after us, attempting to run with close to fifty pounds in books.

Iggy and I ran up to her, leaving Fang and Lissa in their "love-fest" to get our books. "Yeah, let's go," I said.

We walked down to our lockers and Mom began to take pictures of us. Unfortunately, our mother loves to take pictures of every single first thing we do. Our first day of school, our first step, our first phones... (And not in that particular order.) Now, we were getting pictures of our first time opening our high school lockers.

My combination was fairly easy. It was 26-6-16. **(And NO that is not my real locker combo.)** Pretty simple. Iggy's looked pretty intricate since it took him ten minutes to open his locker.

Our lockers were interesting. There were two vertical lockers right next to each other, and then right on top were two horizontal lockers, one on top of the other. I had the locker on the left side, which gave me the bottom locker above the vertical lockers. Iggy had the top locker, and his vertical locker was on the right side. **(I'm sooo sorry if this is confusing. Just ignore it if you don't understand.)**

I decided to put my binders on the bottom locker and my books on the top. Then, my coat would go on the hook, and my bag would go on the hook on the opposite side. Then, I'd carry my backpack to all of my classes. I sighed in relief. I had it for the most part all figured out.

Later, after a couple of hours, we went to marching band practice. I compared my schedule with everyone else from our group. I had a couple of classes with each of them except for Perry and Ella, who I had no real classes with. All of the freshmen had lunch together, so I didn't really bother counting that as a class. But at least I had a group of people to sit with at lunch so I wouldn't look like a loser.

That night, when I got home, I decided to take a bath. I take baths on rare occasions, but if I need to relax, I will take one. This was one of those occasions.

I was silently freaking out about starting high school. It was all happening so fast. A couple of months ago, I was just a middle schooler. Now, I was in freaking high school. High school!

I shuddered and decided to push the thought of school starting in the back of my mind. I would cross that bridge when I got to it.

* * *

***Color guard=the flag twirlers.**

**This was a pretty lame chapter, I know, and it was a bit shorter than the other ones. I've had a bit of a writer's block with this story, but hopefully I'll be able to introduce a new conflict within the next couple of chapters. I have evil ideas. Fax fans may not be pleased. But I assure you, by the end of senior year, they will be together! Don't worry! And any Dax/Mylan fans, I'm sorry, but they will not end up together. But they may get together at one point... Like I said, EVIL PLANS! :) **

**-Venus**


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